Results Embarrassment
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
There is no educational reason for the Victorian Education Ministry and its unions to oppose forwarding literacy and numeracy results to the Federal Minister, and the other states have agreed to.
The argument that disadvantaged schools will be 'unfairly judged' has nothing to do with the children. Indeed, quite the opposite. Revealing which children are not advancing in literacy and numeracy creates the possibility of sorting those schools out and raising their standard.
Unions are trying to protect their staff. This is of course what unions normally try to do. And this is precisely why union should not be running the Ministry. They have a conflict of interest. And the children come off as a lower priority.
Philip O'Carroll